The record polling percentage of 75.60 in Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Elections.

November 14, 2022

The record polling percentage of 75.60 in Himachal Pradesh’s recently concluded Vidhan Sabha Elections.
Despite the two main parties, who were locked in a direct contest for political supremacy in the hill state, claiming victory post-polling, the fact remains that both are apprehensive of the outcome.
The present polling percentage of votes cast through EVMs stands at 75.6, but with an additional 2 per cent postal ballots yet to be received, this figure is likely to go up further,” said Maneesh Garg, Chief Electoral Officer.
The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.
Himachal has 68 Assembly segments, including 17 reserved for the Scheduled castes and three for the Scheduled Tribes. Two Independents had won in the 2017 poll.
Initial reports have indicated that some of these rebels such as Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Indu Verma (Theog), Sanjay Prashar (Jaswan Pragpur), KL Thakur (Nalagarh), Tejwant Negi (Kinnaur), Gangu Ram Musafir (Pachhad) and Jagjivan Pal (Sullah) may win.
Interestingly, the polling percentage in most of the segments which are witnessing a multi-cornered or triangular contest, invariably due to the presence of a rebel from either of the two parties, has been very high. This is visible in Nalagarh (81.40), Pachhad (78.30), Sundernagar (77.80), Bilaspur (76.48), Arki (75.17), Theog (74.96), Mandi (74.0) and Kinnaur (72.56).
Former CM Virbhadra Singh had formed a minority government for a mere 18 days with the support of Independent MLA Ramesh Dhawala in 1998. However, Dhawala, a BJP rebel, chose to return to the BJP, resulting in the Congress government falling within a few days.
Following this, the BJP formed a coalition government with the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC), an outfit floated by former Congress leader Sukh Ram. The HVC had managed to win five seats in the 1998 poll and thus helped in formation of the BJP-HVC combine in which Dhawala also became a minister. As such, a situation where Independents could play a crucial role in government formation in case no party gets a clear majority, cannot be ruled out.